TIRANA, June 19 – Albania’s price levels for consumer goods and services are among Europe’s lowest although the country’s GDP per capita and consumption stand far below the EU and regional average, according to a report published on Friday by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.
At 50 percent of the EU 28 average, Albania’s price levels for consumer goods and services in 2014 were the third lowest in a in a 37-country list which includes 28 EU member states, three EFTA members, five EU candidate countries and one potential candidate.
Price levels among regional countries vary from the lowest 47 percent of the EU average in neighboring Macedonia to 50 percent in Albania, 53 percent in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, 57 percent in Montenegro.
Surprisingly, EU member Bulgaria has the lowest price levels in Europe at only 48 percent of the EU average followed by Romania at 54 percent.
Albania has one of Europe’s lowest price levels for restaurants and hotels at only 42 percent of the EU average which rank the most competitive in the region along with Macedonia. The indicator is positive about Albania’s growing travel and tourism industry, which employs around 41,000 people in Albania and is estimated to have contributed by $639 million or around 4.8 percent of the GDP in 2014.
Alcoholic beverages and tobacco prices are also among Europe’s lowest at only 45 percent of the EU average. Clothes in Albania are also the second cheapest after Turkey at 66 percent of the EU average.
Prices of personal transport equipment which includes motor cars, motor cycles and bicycles but excludes their maintenance and repair, spare parts and fuel, are also the second cheapest in Europe after the Czech Republic, standing at 77 percent of the EU average.
However, when it comes to consumer electronic, including TVs, computers and software, Albania has one of Europe’s highest prices at 8 percent above the EU average and the highest in the Western Balkan region.
Price levels for consumer goods and services in the European Union in 2014 ranged from 48 percent of the EU average in Bulgaria to 138 percent in Denmark.
Albania’s GDP per capita, a measure of economic activity and the actual individual consumption, an indicator of the material welfare of households, ranks among the poorest in Europe and in the region at almost a third of the EU 28, according to an earlier Eurostat report.
